Ralph Lauren quietly shuttered its two-year-old 20,000-square-foot store last week. Other brands are expected to close boutiques in a city that has lost its luster for cash-rich mainland Chinese tourists.

NEW YORK — The stakes were high, but some designers were calm and collected Monday night at the 2009 CFDA Fashion Awards, held for the first time at the refurbished Alice Tully Hall. “I went to work, had a couple of meetings, ate Thai food,” Swarovski Award for Womenswear winner Alexander Wang said casually about his day-of routine. “I just want to hang out with my friends.” Among them was his date, Dree Hemingway, who mingled with other starlets such as Kirsten Dunst, Blake Lively, Diane Kruger and Claire Danes.

Exclusive WWD Video: The Red Carpet Scene at the 2009 CFDAs

There were even some fashion neophytes in the crowd. “That’s Ralph Lauren, right?” asked Bradley Cooper, arriving with Calvin Klein’s Italo Zucchelli, who tied with Scott Sternberg for Band of Outsiders for the Menswear Designer of the Year award. “And I think I saw Anna Wintour,” he added.

Among the evening’s other winners were Kate and Laura Mulleavy for Rodarte, who picked up the Womenswear Designer of the Year nod; Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez for Proenza Schouler, who took home the Accessory Designer of the Year award; Swarovski Award for Menswear recipient Tim Hamilton, and Swarovski Award for Accessory Design winner Justin Giunta for Subversive Jewelry.

Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton took the International Award and the Eleanor Lambert Award went to GQ creative director Jim Moore. WWD editor in chief Edward Nardoza received the Eugenia Sheppard Award.

The Board of Directors’ Special Tribute was awarded to First Lady Michelle Obama. Ralph Lauren won the first Popular Vote award. Not all of the recipients were quite so relaxed. Anna Sui knew she would be expected to give a speech in accepting her Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award. “That’s what I’m nervous about,” she said. “I feel like the kid who didn’t do her homework. I’m going to rely on those presidential teleprompters.”

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@rebeccaminkoff is bringing self-checkout to high fashion: The brand has partnered with @queuehop to bring its customers self-checkout options, beginning this holiday season at its SoHo store. (📷: @aurorarosephoto)

It was a big night for Demna Gvasalia at the Fashion Awards 2016 in London: The designer took home the award for international ready-to-wear designer for his work at @balenciaga, while his brand @vetements_official scooped international urban luxury brand. (📷: @giovanni_giannoni_photo)

Despite decades of enforcement, the plague of sweatshops still exists in America: "The sad reality is for workers in this industry there are still incredible problems and workers in this industry are subjected to inexcusable levels of violations of our basic labor standards." - David Weil, The Department of Labor Wage and Hour